Road trips: Recent honour recalls hardware hauls of the past

A Volvo 245 DL station wagon driven around the world by Garry in 74 days in 1980 is parked the Maritime Motorsport Hall of Fame at Petitcodiac, N.B.

PHOTO: Garry Sowerby, Driving

By Garry Sowerby,

Originally published: June 12, 2014

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Trophies are good and I got one last week.

Well, it’s actually a plaque from the Maritime Motorsport Hall of Fame for one of my four vehicles that are temporarily housed in their very cool, eclectic museum in Petitcodiac, N.B.

Last weekend, the museum hosted the ninth annual Petty Auto Fest, a favourite stop on the Maritime car- show circuit and an important fundraiser for the Maritime Motorsport Hall of Fame. When Paul Forgrave from the museum called to see if I wanted to enter my vehicles in the show, it was a no-brainer.
“You might win a plaque, Garry,” Paul said. “But to enter you need to send five dollars for each vehicle.”

No problem. Just $20 to enter the four of them along with a chance for a plaque, which, in my books, is first cousin to a trophy. I tried to make it to the annual Petty Auto Fest, but when I called Forgrave to tell him I was delayed, he laid the news on me.

“The show is over now, but you did win a plaque. Can’t remember for which of your vehicles though,” he said, obviously still excited about the success of this year’s event.

Another one of Garrys trophies: a garish, cheap plastic trophy that looks like something from an amateur bowling tournament. The award has had a prime location in his basement on top of the furnace for years.Garry Sowerby, Driving

Basking in the glory of the win, I couldn’t help recall the few other times I’ve won a trophy for something automotive. In 1980, during Ken Langley’s and my attempt to drive a Volvo 245 DL station wagon around the world in 77 days or less, Volvo Canada’s PR man, Ken Barrett, met us in Halifax as we prepared for the last leg of the drive. With only 2,000 kilometres left of the 43,000-kilometre trek, we were feeling confident of completing the drive in 74 days, hacking almost a month off the existing 102-day record.

Barrett told us Volvo was so pumped with the positive media the trip had generated for Volvo worldwide and their Nova Scotia-assembled products, they had two surprises for us at the finish line at Toronto’s CN Tower.

He could hardly contain his excitement.

“You are going to love them!” Barrett said, with a twinkle in his eye.
Of course, the jubilation of finishing what we set out to do was paramount in our thoughts during that drive from Halifax to Ottawa and on to Toronto.

Every now and then, we would talk about the surprise Volvo had waiting for us at the CN Tower, though. We reckoned it must be two new black Volvo 242 GTs, a sporty model of the brickish 240 series with black on black livery, a trumped-up 2.3-litre four-cylinder engine, upgraded suspension and a healthy dose of attitude.

The dream fuelled us on.

The official finish line was a paper barrier that read “Shell Helps” set up at the base of the CN Tower. After circling the globe, my last duty was to steer our trusty Volvo through that barrier, slam on the brakes and score the victory. As I approached the tower and lined up the Volvo for the last act of our 74-day mission, Langley yelled, “There they are!”

I knew what he meant, glanced right, and as we hit the barrier, I saw them: two GTs parked beside the finish line. Black, hot-looking and OURS!
Inside, there was a media blitz. From the podium, I could see the front of one of our new GTs. Beating the record was just reward for our efforts, but when Volvo Canada president Jim Fitzhenry approached the podium, my fingers twitched for the icing on the cake. Alas, the keys to the black 242 GTs morphed into two pieces of Swedish crystal. Our trophies for driving their product onto the front cover of the Guinness Book of World Records was a crystal polar bear swimming inside a crystal iceberg, mounted on a fine piece of mahogany.

Instead of receiving the keys to a black Volvo 242 GT as a reward for completing an around-the-world record-breaking drive in 1980, Garry received from Volvo Car Company a crystal polar bear swimming inside a crystal iceberg mounted on a fine piece of mahogany.Garry Sowerby, Driving

Not so bad in retrospect, since I still have mine on the mantel in the living room. Every now and then the sun catches the iceberg and I smile. It’s not a black Volvo 242 GT, but 34 years later, it still looks new, not like the GT would look now.

The other trophy I received for that stunt of automotive stubbornness was presented by the Toronto Sun newspaper, one of the sponsors who helped get us to the start line in the first place.

The garish, cheap plastic trophy looked like something from an amateur bowling tournament and has had a prime location in our basement on top of the furnace for years. The tacky trophy is so bad it’s almost good!

So, now, I have another trophy, er, plaque, thanks to the ninth annual Petty Auto Fest in Petitcodiac. I guess I should call Paul Forgrave at the Maritime Motorsport Hall of Fame Museum to see which one of my relics won it.